Missoula County Property Tax Bills to be Mailed out This Week

‘No one likes to pay taxes, but we all like the things that taxes pay for’.

So said Missoula County Clark and Treasurer Tyler Gernant during the week that Missoula property taxes are being mailed out to residents.

“The property tax bills have been created and have been available online for about a week now,” said Gernant. “We are actually sending them out this afternoon, so they should be arriving in mailboxes possibly tomorrow but for sure this week.”

Gernant said the tax bills will look a little different this year.

“We’ve changed the format of the tax bill a little bit this year,” he said. “There’s a detailed breakdown for the city-county schools and the special districts and those will break down where each of your tax dollars are going. At the top is a coupon for the first half and for the second half. The first half taxes are due by November 30 and the second half is due by May 31 of 2019. Something I’m pretty excited about is that those have been perforated for the first time so you can separate them easily without having to break out the scissors.”

Gernant breaks down the property tax appeal process.

“The best thing to do is to contact our office,” he said. “If there’s a dispute over just the value, that’s something that they’re actually too late to protest for this year, unless they file a lawsuit. But, if you were to file an informal request for reappraisal based just on the value, then that would take effect for next tax year.”

Whatever you do, don’t be late paying your property taxes because the penalties can be costly.

“By statute, there’s a two percent penalty if you’re even late by just one day, and then there is 10 percent interest applied that is accruing daily,” he said. “But, I would like to point out that you can go and pay your property taxes online, so even if you’re out of the country you can pay your taxes online either with an electronic check or via a credit card, both of which charge an extra fee.”

Gernant said property taxpayers can look forward to another reappraisal in 2019 something in June or July.